Bob Ward (see photo), engineering director of Marshall of Cambridge (England) Aerospace Ltd., has been awarded an Order of the British Empire. He was cited for management and coordination of major modification and installation programs on Royal Air Force aircraft for operations in Afghanistan.
The answer to what will happen to China's regionals as they are integrated into its major carriers has begun to emerge: They are going to disappear. The country's biggest carrier, China Southern Airlines, said last week that the two carriers it is taking over, China Northern Airlines of Shenyang and Xinjiang Airlines of Urumqi, will now use its CZ airline booking code for domestic flights. China Northern's CJ and Xinjiang's XO codes are to fade away. By March the switchover will be complete for international bookings.
WORLD NEWS ROUNDUP Cargo and passenger volumes set records at Asian airports Hong Kong and Narita figures show turnaround from recession 16 LockMart adds Boeing unit to MUOS satellite team Picked for hardware after being eliminated in downselect 16 India test-fires Agni-I surface-to-surface missile After Pakistan said army unit received nuclear ballistic missile 17 WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS Airbus takes the lead in troubled market
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Canada's government will announce next month whether the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) can play a significant role in U.S. plans to send a "smart" lander to Mars in 2009. CSA President Marc Garneau said his agency has asked Ottawa for enough funding "to make a healthy contribution to the Mars Science Laboratory," and expects to hear back from the Cabinet in February. As in the U.S., potential funding levels are a "Cabinet secret" in Canada until they are released in the overall budget.
Raytheon Co. has appointed New York lawyer and former U.S. Sen. Warren B. Rudman (R-N.H.) lead director of the corporation's 10-member board. USAF Maj. Gen. (ret.) Gerald Perryman has been named head of Raytheon's McKinney, Tex.-based intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance business. He was assistant deputy chief of staff for warfighting integration at Air Force headquarters.
NASA's planned use of an Extended Duration Orbiter (EDO) pallet to increase ISS science operations (AW&ST Nov. 11, 2002, p. 17) is almost a great idea. It highlights the shuttle's multiple capabilities but raises old safety issues about cryogenic hydrogen in the payload bay. EDO fuel should be carried in a Centaur-derived vehicle placed in a parking orbit by an expendable launcher. The shuttle would retrieve this payload before docking with the ISS.
Daniel Elwell, a Boeing 767 pilot for American Airlines, has been appointed the carrier's managing director of international and government affairs. He also is a lieutenant colonel in the USAF Reserve and a former legislative fellow for U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska.
The Common Engine Program that would deliver a new powerplant for the AH-64D Apache and UH-60 Black Hawk appears to be on the upswing, U.S. Army officials indicate. The program has been starved of funding, limiting development activities to a few components. But program advocates recently made the case for the engine to senior service leaders, pointing out that without the engine the helos won't be able to traverse the larger battlespace the Army says it wants to be able to control.
DEVELOPMENT OF a supersonic business jet (SSBJ) may become a reality by 2020. According to Richard Aboulafia, director of aviation for The Teal Group, in the long term, the thirst for faster travel between key international city pairs as well as continents will drive corporate demand for an SSBJ despite the projected cost of up to $70-80 million for each airplane. The demise of Boeing's Sonic Cruiser may breathe new life into prospects for a supersonic business aircraft.
A spacecraft-handling accident that delayed launch of the next Global Positioning System satellite has given the crew set to operate NASA's Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) more time to prepare their spacecraft for launch. GPS IIR-8 is scheduled for launch by mid-February, following an Oct. 25, 2002, mishap in which a crane operator lifted the satellite and its upper stage after they had been partially bolted to the Delta II launch vehicle (AW&ST Nov. 4, 2002, p. 31). That pushed SIRTF back from this month to an Apr.
NTSB investigators are looking at elevator malfunction and the role of maintenance as possible factors in the Jan. 8 crash of an Air Midwest Raytheon/Beechcraft 1900D at Charlotte, N.C., that killed all 19 passengers and two crewmembers on board.
Despite the soft world economy, Embraer still expects to deliver 148 aircraft this year and 155 in 2004, driven by the service entry of the Embraer 170 in mid-2003 and the Embraer 175 a year later. Last year, the Brazilian regional jet manufacturer delivered 131 aircraft, one less than expected, because of customer deferrals. The year-end firm backlog stood at $9 billion, not counting sales to Jet Airways of India and Poland's LOT, which have yet to be finalized. Four of the 10 aircraft ordered by LOT will be leased by Gecas and are already on the books.
During the last 16 years, NASA has embarked on several costly and time-consuming vehicle programs prior to proper preliminary analysis of their viability. The most notable were the National Aero-Space Plane X-30 and Single Stage to Orbit X-33 programs. Major funding for research and development of these badly flawed concepts should not have progressed beyond a careful computer-based study of their feasibility and practicality.
EADS has identified growth of its defense electronics business, Defense and Civil Systems, as a priority in 2003. DCS expansion will come partly from increased defense expenditures, particularly in France and the U.K., where EADS has 11,000 employees, and partly through European acquisitions, said Co-CEO Philippe Camus. After bogging down company results for several years, this unit is expected to be "well in the black this year" and to reach 7% margin, close to the corporate goal of 10%, on sales by 2005.
Lockheed Martin has added Boeing Satellite Systems (BSS) to its Mobile User Objective System satellite team, to take advantage of Boeing's hardware capabilities as builder of the Ultra High Frequency Follow-On system that MUOS replaces. Boeing was eliminated from the MUOS competition last year when the U.S. Navy downselected to a Lockheed Martin-General Dynamics team (the former Motorola unit in Scottsdale, Ariz.) to vie against Raytheon and Loral. The Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics and BSS workshares have not been revealed.
International Space Station astronauts Ken Bowersox and Don Pettit completed a 6 hr. 30 min. extravehicular activity (EVA) Jan. 15 to release a 75-ft.-long radiator panel and backup ground commands to reposition the station's rail-mounted mobile transporter.
Japan's Air Safety Promotion Council has some reservations about automatic check-in machines for baggage that have cropped up at major airports. Too many passengers are using them to bypass the check-in counter scrutiny that would prevent outsized luggage from being carried into the cabin. Spot inspections in October and November by council members, who represent the country's cabin crews, showed as many as 21 violations on some of Japan Airlines' international flights and more than 100 on Japan Air System's domestic flights.
George H. Jamison, 3rd, has been named vice president-communications of the United Technologies Corp., Hartford, Conn. He held the same post at the Hughes Electronics Corp.
Robert Atac has been named vice president-military aviation of CMC Electronics Inc. of Montreal. He was CEO of Flight Visions Inc., Sugar Grove, Ill., which was acquired by CMC.
Delta Air Lines Capt. William C. Buergey has been elected chairman of the Skyteam Pilot Alliance. Other new officers are: vice chairman, Air France First Officer Gilles Devic; and secretary, CSA First Officer Martin A. Stastney. Buergey succeeds Korean Air Capt. Man-Youb Choo.
Australia's Virgin Blue's order for 10 737-800s as part of a 10-year expansion program has put some luster back on Boeing's claims for that aircraft as a staple of discount carriers. The order has been counted as "unidentified" in Boeing's sales total. It includes options for 40 additional aircraft and is valued, in total, at $3 billion. Deliveries begin in August.
